BG Chap 9 - The meaning of the term jñāna

Submitted by Radhikesh on Thu, 2011-04-28 15:09

The term jñāna refers only to direct bhakti in the form of singing the Lord’s glories and other devotional activities. Also, the actions of bhakti such as kīrtana arise from the cit-śakti, the energy of the Lord which manifests spiritual knowledge, and can thus be considered knowledge. In addition, jñāna literally means “that by which something is known.” Since the Lord is known by bhakti, bhakti is called jñāna. The jñāna mentioned earlier is in sattva guṇa but Kṛṣṇa uses the term avyayam (indestructible) to refer to this jñāna. Thus this knowledge is beyond the guṇas and thus refers only to bhakti. The term dharma in verse 9.3 also refers to bhakti only.